2014: A VoLTE Security Nightmare?

NEW YORK – Mobile Network Security Strategies – On Voice-over-LTE, no one can hear you scream.

Upcoming 4G packet voice services were highlighted as a significant new security risk in a panel discussion Thursday in New York on threats to the LTE network, devices, and users. Speakers from Cloudmark Inc. , Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR), Nokia Networks , and Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) all agreed that VoLTE has the potential to be a threat as the services are deployed

"It's opening a Pandora's Box," stated Basheer Nasir Ahmed, senior solutions manager at NSN.

Potential attacks include caller ID spoofing and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. "Telephony DoS [or] TDoS," suggested John Veizades, senior product manager of mobile security at Juniper Networks, "is a can of worms."

Operators are just now starting to introduce call services over the all-IP LTE network and are planning the slow move away from circuit-switched voice calls over 3G and 2G technology.

Operators in Asia, Europe, and the US are planning to start VoLTE services over the next few years. Hong Kong operator CSL became one of the first to offer VoLTE services on Thursday. (See VoLTE Hits Hong Kong.)

— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading